Oh the pain! #Kochmachine is in many American universities, including Penn State

While Dr. Michael Mann tries to paint being funded by the Koch Corporation as being equivalent to pure evil in his attempts to smear people like myself…

…it is enlightening to learn that his current employer, Penn State, gets funds from Koch, and so does where Dr. Mann did his thesis from, the University of Virginia. Those darn facts, they are stubborn things. See the list that follows.

Meanwhile…climate activist Brad Johnson who runs the overzealous “Forecast the Facts” hit squad is also trying to get Koch out of the PBS board and funding. Apparently Koch funds that WGBH “Nova” program, well known for being anti-science /sarc

We’re turning up the heat on Boston’s PBS affiliate to kick climate denier David Koch off the board.

I wonder if they got a license from PBS to use “Big Bird”?

Given the depth that Koch is invested in American education via the list that follows, it makes his quest seem even more irrational. The obvious next step is to have Dr. Mann and Mr. Johnson try to divest Penn State from Koch. I’m sure this will go over well.

Thanks to commenter “climatebeagle” for providing a link to this list which I’ve reproduced below.

============================================================

Colleges and Universities with Programs Supported by the Charles Koch Foundation

Again for the record, I have never received a dime from Koch, never met them, never got a letter or email from them, and I doubt if they even know who I am. But, as I look at this list, maybe I should start asking? I’d be in good company.

Maybe the next time some wackadoodle activist cites #Kochmachine, you should simply ask them where they went to school or are at school.

Chances are, that school will be on this list, just like Mike Mann’s universities. Oh, the pain!

Sesame Street magazine has named October 15 “National Grouch Day” in honor of the lovable green frown-faced puppet, reports E! News.
“A Grouch’s mission in life is to be as miserable and grouchy as possible, and pass that feeling on to everyone else,” a statement on Muppetedia explained. “Only then will a Grouch feel in touch with his or her world and be happy.”
The Muppet himself sings about his grumpy existence in the “Grouch Anthem,” explaining how grumps everywhere should stand up for their grouchly rights. He adds: “Don’t let the sunshine spoil your rain. Just stand up and complain.”

Anthony writes, “Again for the record, I have never received a dime from Koch, never met them, never got a letter or email from them, and I doubt if they even know who I am. But, as I look at this list, maybe I should start asking?”
The Koch’s have been told so many times (incorrectly) that they fund skeptical bloggers they probably believe they do. I think I’ll set up a special sticky post at my blog just for Koch donations.

Interesting that University of Texas, Austin, is not on the Koch-funded list above. (my undergraduate alma mater). However, it is a bastion of AGW. It is also heavily funded by Big Oil. And, it is very slightly funded by me. (emphasis on “very”).
The U of Texas system receives substantial funds from oil that is produced in fields located in West Texas. The oil fields have helped fund the University for at least the past 50 years.

Did “Forecast The Facts” pay PBS royalties to use Big Bird’s image? Inquiring minds wish to know. Lord knows if somebody on the science side used it to debunk AGW, these guys could be heard howling in the moon.

A month or so ago, during a particularly unsettled time, I completely lost my cool with an old acquaintance and told them – twice in succession – to do something that’s physically impossible to do; as Clint Eastwood explained to an empty chair last year at the Republican National Convention.
To be honest, I wasn’t entirely happy with myself that I had let my anger get the best of me to where I blasted out that confrontational, raging swear. I genuinely felt bad about having barked those two words out – and twice. So I sought the counsel of an older, more world traveled, and very much wiser, individual who I had known for a long time. After hearing my story this learned gentleman quickly counseled:
“They had it coming.”
I don’t know why, but the above story and response really seems to apply to Michael Mann.

Those inconvenient real facts. They are just too available to us non-scientist types and to those scientists who want science to go back to working at learning all truths, not just the convenient ones.

“Penn State, also gets funds from Koch”
That could be construed as an admission that you do receive money from him.
REPLY: I was referring to the context of the list but I see your point, I’ll make a change to the wording. Note what I say at the end of the list, which is the truth. – Anthony

This is scandalous. Working at Mann’s Penn State salary comes out of funds contaminated by Koch Foundation money. Either the guy is a Koch puppet serving their covert agenda and his slurs against Anthony Watts are for camouflage purposes, or else he’s deeply ashamed of where his funding comes from and is hitting out at Anthony in an act of classic Freudian psychological projection.

so Koch is a right wing philanthropist. I wouldn’t imagine for one moment that he or his organisation funded any of Michael Mann’s research. I would have thought this is more about political idealism than anything else.

Georgia State, Spelman, Kennesaw State, Berry, Andrew, Mercer, University of Georgia – lots of Georgia colleges and universities are on the list, but my alma mater, and Judith Curry’s place of employment – Georgia Tech – is not on the list. Maybe Judy needs to post her request for funding as well.. Makes me wonder who at Ga Tech made the Koch brothers mad.

Wow, I have degrees from both the University of Delaware and the University of Rochester. Out of three degrees total (also Ga. Tech) I have 2/3’s “Koch” influence. So I’m confused, am I 2/3’s a skeptic or 2/3’s a denier, or 2/3’s a believer ???. Anyway, I have never gotten my check(s), and I would not recognize the Koch Brothers unless I ran them over by accident and checked their drivers license to help fill out the police report.
Cheers, Kevin.

KevinM: “Whats so bad about takng money from a Koch (or a Gore) to do a thing you intended to do from the start.”
The appearance of impropriety. Textbook example: The EPA is justly infamous for throwing empirical research in the round file if it failed to reach the conclusion they paid for.
In an ideal world, the research is well argued, logical, doesn’t introduce superfluities or dialogues to moral touchstones and desired policy goals. And most of all, is possible to replicate. After that, no one should care until it has been replicated ridiculously and survived. But if we wait that long, Siberia will burst into flames and melt Greenland.

UC Santa Barbara (BA, 1967); UC Santa Barbara, PhD (1970); MBA USC 1975. Not surprised to see USC absent from the list, but definitely surprised that super left-radical UCSB also isn’t there.
Anthony, did you tweet His Ugliness to inform him that he, and not you, is living on the Big Oil nickel?

No University of Illinois appearances….not surprising, considering how anti-business the faculty are. I see that the ultra-liberal University of Wisconsin system snagged some Koch-coin!
Really, this type of information is useless. The big petrochem companies often sponsor research at schools with good chem-eng programs like Penn State, Univ of Mich, UI Urbana etc. I have yet to see ANY school turn down funding because of moral or ethical problems, although disinvestment is something they do (famously for apartheid South Africa).
Hey Charles, throw some of that Koch coin my way!

FWIW, I complained to Penn State about Professor Mann’s Tweeting …. here’s their response:
“Michael Mann’s work in the lab has little to do with his right as a citizen to express his opinion under the First Amendment. His expressions on Twitter are his own and while you may disagree with them, they are protected speech (unless the courts deem otherwise).
The topic of climate change is and has been one of great dissension and discussion. Dr. Mann himself has been the subject of many scathing attacks. We do not comment directly on the content of these attacks, except to say that we support his work as a researcher.
His Constitutionally protected comments on Twitter are his own — much like the comments you are able to send in this email.”
Also, FWIW, if I were to tweet such stuff on topics for which I am employed, I would be strongly disciplined or fired. Guess I should get a gig at Penn State!

Mann reminds me of a second-rate gossipy drunk who sits in a club expounding loudly on his latest conspiracy theory…resting on laurels he may never have had….or in his present state, clinging, muttering, to a beat-up hockey stick.

Glad to be of assistance. 🙂
I am getting fed up of incorrect statements by AGWers (links to severe weather etc.), I think such statements need to be called out, maybe some grassroots/crowdsourced effort is needed. I’m trying to chase one down by Prof. Slingo, and Dr Mann’s claims today seemed interesting as well.
Dr. Mann would be wise to do more research before making such claims, the articles he linked to today when attacking Anthony did not seem to back up his tweets at all.

The Koch Brothers should be made aware of this. A list that long is going to contain warmist universities. Maybe even all on the list are warmist (I’m beginning to doubt that there is such a thing as a university which hasn’t been infiltrated to push the warmist meme).
Well, if those warmist universities don’t want anything to do with the Koch Brothers, maybe they should withdraw their financial support and find something more useful to do with it. I would imagine that genuine science, research and other efforts to wind back alarmist hysteria could use a helping hand.
The Koch Brothers should be told that their current generosity is being thrown in their faces, their name is being constantly abused, and their donations thoroughly squandered. They should pull the plug.

Hmmm, interesting, I had noticed some time ago that North Carolina State University listed above, used John Cook’s Skeptical Science blog as an educational resource for students, the mind boggles at what they are turning out there,..the clones wars are coming…http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/edu/k12/node/1430

I like how these people hide behind Sesame Street.
Republicans should take the CPB funding away from the lying leftist propaganda shows Frontline, PBS Newshour, bill moyers, charley rose, etc and direct it towards Sesame Street and double it and see what those liars then try to hide behind.

games4us5 on October 15, 2013 at 6:48 pm
I see New Mexico State University nor University of New Mexico didn’t get on the Koch gravy train, either. Too bad. Lots of sun… great for solar panels and spaceports!
Watch it there… I graduated from UNM with a BSME in 1985. The ME bldg was a study in energy conservation, from thermal storage to a rankin cycle generator. I was involved in a EPRI thermal storage research project with Professors Wilden and Truman that was quite successful. We were not focused on climate change, simply energy conservation in commercial buildings.
I am still doing that today…

TomRude says:
If Mann did not exist, we should have invented him!
Sorry, I don’t think anyone could remain sane long enough to do that.
The required hallucinogenic and mind altering substances would fry a normal persons mind long before they could even envisage anyone like him..

AndyG55 says:
October 15, 2013 at 9:47 pm
TomRude says:
If Mann did not exist, we should have invented him!
Sorry, I don’t think anyone could remain sane long enough to do that.
The required hallucinogenic and mind altering substances would fry a normal persons mind long before they could even envisage anyone like him..
__________________________
Oh, I don’t know… a quart of tequila could set off a pretty good vision.

Observer says:
October 15, 2013 at 8:45 pm
FWIW, I complained to Penn State about Professor Mann’s Tweeting …. here’s their response:
“Michael Mann’s work in the lab has little to do with his right as a citizen to express his opinion under the First Amendment. His expressions on Twitter are his own and while you may disagree with them, they are protected speechhttp://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/15/oh-the-pain-kochmachine-is-in-many-american-universities-including-penn-state/#comment-1449386
Mann isn’t making a distinction that the comments are his and his alone and not as a Penn State representative.
His twitter homepage:
@MichaelEMann
Climate Scientist, Professor, and Director of Penn State Earth System Science Center. Author of Dire Predictions & The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars
Penn State University, PA · michaelmann.nethttps://twitter.com/michaelemann

I always considered it a stroke of luck to have Michael Mann’s clownish antics representing the alarmist position on GW. Now I find out the Koch Bros. have a hand in supporting him. I am awed by the Koch Bros. ability and foresight in planting such a time bomb of a mole in the alarmist camp so early in the debate.

Liontooth remember Penn State ‘investigation ‘ of Mann , which constituted of asking him if he done anything wrong , and without further question just believing him when he said no. Despite the fact his words contained at least one bare face lie.
Mann is a Penn ‘star’ because the AGW research bucket is still deep and well filled , and so he brings the money in. That his ‘science’ is junk means nothing compared to that.

Is #MichaelEMann really the best front man
the #KochBrothers can buy?
#KochMachine #DenierForHire
#CourtJester
—
It is called psychological projection. Just always take what they say and turn it around. Yep, that’s the reality all right.

Now, I know that ‘Koch’ rhymes with that well-known beverage, but I can’t get it out of my head that it should rhyme with ‘sock’.
So when someone up thread accuses Mann of being a ‘Koch-puppet’ my keyboard nearly got a Coke-shower!

Another irony is that when challenged by Daily Mail journalist David Rose to provide evidence for his smear against Anthony, Mann gave a link to sourcewatch, which relies on the Peter Glieck faked Heartland Strategy memo as “evidence”!!
Michael E. Mann ‏@MichaelEMann 15h
.@DavidRoseUK While that never seems to stop you Mr. Rose, yes I do: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institute …

Dear me! The Koch brothers (who must be evil, because they have lots of money) are funding some educational institutions. We should stop that right away.
Of course, it’s not only the Kochs who are funding education. LOTS of rich people are funding all sorts of things. Dear me, again!
I propose that we make it illegal for rich people to fund anything. Or, indeed, anyone to fund anything. All that evil money should be kept away from public service, and should be locked up in the mansions of all these evil millionaires. And the public services in our Utopian world will run on fresh air….

The facts of the matter is that all Public School Systems and most all colleges and universities were once non-profit institutions of learning and/or education of the populace …… but have since all morphed into non-taxpaying “profit (money) making” businesses whose primary interest is to expend said profits for the betterment of their “community” of employees ….. and thus they could care less what their revenue sources are as long as they continue to be “profitable”..

(Godwin alert!) Someone just try and tell me these people are not the same as the Sturmabteilung?
” A recent study found that 27% of TV meteorologists call global warming a “scam,” while over half deny that humans are the cause. ” ….
“So we’re tracking meteorologists’ attitudes toward climate change across the country.”
“Know what your meteorologist thinks? Drop us a line: tips@forecastthefacts.org “

Even if Mann’s tweets are indeed protected by First Amendment rights, how can PSU (my alma mater) tolerate his recent ad hominem attack on the head of Georgia Tech’s Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Judith Curry, when he referred to her as a “serial denialist”? Disgraceful, PSU.

Ben D says:
October 15, 2013 at 9:02 pm
Hmmm, interesting, I had noticed some time ago that North Carolina State University listed above, used John Cook’s Skeptical Science blog as an educational resource for students, the mind boggles at what they are turning out there,..the clones wars are coming…http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/edu/k12/node/1430
_______________________________________________________________________
I was hoping my alma mater was doing better with the Koch money.
My only complaint about the Koch brothers is that I never received any of their dirty money as an employee or any grants.

bagtoter says: “how can PSU (my alma mater) tolerate his recent ad hominem attack on the head of Georgia Tech’s Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Judith Curry”
Please ask PSU, their HR64 policy states “faculty member agrees at all times to be accurate, to exercise appropriate restraint, to show respect for the opinions of others”.
Is that tweet following that policy?

Wake Forest in Winston-Salem is on there, but I don’t think this money went to cigarette smoking cessation research at Baptist Hospital (which would be terribly disappointing to the Liberals), just a hunch

Now does someone have a list of colleges and universities with programs supported by
1) Exxon
2) Shell
3) BP etc.?
A quick search on Google shows ExxoMobil shelling out millions to universities. BP and Shell also providing funds to quite a few universities and colleges. I have no time to do a detailed search as my internet connection is on a crawl.
[Snippet from search results / can’t open page due to net speed issues]
“ExxonMobil and Employees Donate $36M to U.S. Universities”
… to 900 colleges and universities across the United States through the ExxonMobil …http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/2050/exxonmobil-employees-donate-$36m-to-us-universities

Last Sunday night 60 Minutes ran an excellent piece about a 15 year old who has come up with a quick and low cost test for pancreatic cancer. The kid had to find a lab that would work with him to do the years of testing and validation required and was rejected by over 100 labs. One scientist, however, found his process worth testing further and invited him to work from their lab.
60 Minutes briefly showed him walking into the lab but CBS didn’t comment that the name on the facility and benefactor for the lab was David H. Koch, that anti-science guy!

It appears as if Mann believes being required to reveal his papers/emails from UVa is an “attack on scientific research and academic freedom”. Amazing positioning. Asking to see your research is an attack on the research. Wow.

Jquip says:
October 15, 2013 at 7:12 pm
“KevinM: “Whats so bad about takng money from a Koch (or a Gore) to do a thing you intended to do from the start.”
The appearance of impropriety.”
How about taking money that the petulant child in the spitehouse took from the taxpayer and gave you; also known as government grant?

I don’t know if this is worth mentioning for Mr. Watt but in one month time in Mann’s own confined Twitterspace I believe I counted 17 examples of him mentioning Watt’s name by Mr. Mann himself. As once someone famously said (with a slight modification) Mr. Watt is living rent-free in Mr. Mann’s brain. OCD comes to mind, too. Lather, rinse, repeat…

JohnWho says, “I believe we should draw the line here on insulting tits.”
Collins English dictionary: tit
4. Slang a despicable or unpleasant person: often used as a term of address
Whereas , tits ahhh,
never would insult their kind.
😉

Mann’s slurs at anyone he disagrees with and his suit against Mark Steyn and NRO continue to show what a little man Mann really is. He must really be feeling the pain from the on going disproving of the hockey stick by people of real science and mother nature. He really needs to “mann up”.

Does Forecast the Facts have permission to use the Big Bird image in this way? I thought the Sesame Street production company guarded those characters zealously and allowing such use would degrade their intellectual property rights.

“Michael Mann’s work in the lab has little to do with his right as a citizen to express his opinion under the First Amendment. His expressions on Twitter are his own and while you may disagree with them, they are protected speech”
That is incorrect.
Twitter is ultimately a private company. The First Amendment doesn’t apply there. In fact, the First Amendment of the US Constitution doesn’t apply at all and Mann’s defenders should actually read said First Amendment, because what it stands for and what it does is crystal clear and extremely well defined by the Founding Fathers.
Says I, who’s neither American nor an English native speaker.

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